"Califoorrrnnniaaaaaa?"

Well, today was my first day of long-term, full-time work.

Eh.

It was about what I expected. The three of us sat at a desk and basically filed for a while because we didn't have any DePaul security passes or online accounts yet. We had to go through thousands of loose files that made up parts of undergraduate applications. It made me so thankful I wasn't applying to college again. I was about to have a panic-attack-flashback to senior year of high school. It was nice to know that my life is much better five years later.

Also, I got to read some of the personal statements, letters of recommendation, SAT scores, and high school transcripts. You would not believe the DUMBASSES who apply to college. Seriously. Dumb asses. I wanted to call these kids and ask, "Hey, do you honestly expect to get into a college with a 1.89 GPA? If you failed Algebra II three times, you probably should avoid college." I have no idea what DePaul's reputation is, but it's hard to believe that these people can get into college.

Also, every letter of recommendation is exactly the same. The only way to distinguish them is by how poorly- or well-written they are. Honestly, how did some of these people become teachers? "I am writing on behalf of Kate Blahdiddyblah's application. It's such a pleasure to write this letter for Kate. Kate is such a hard worker. Kate works really hard at school. Kate is quiet in class but she's really smart. And a hard worker. Kate was even the president of the math club!"

We're not supposed to be doing this full-time. Eventually we're going to start updating Excel spreadsheets with information about what courses at other colleges will transfer to DePaul. Or something.

There are two other guys, although one of them left for lunch and didn't come back. I'm not sure what happened to him. The other one is... Well, let's just say I have this great luck where I always have at least one asshole in my life. Thankfully, he's my coworker. I shouldn't go into details for that reason.*

I ate at Chipotle for the first time during my lunch break and it was intense. My other random story from the day is that I think my red line train passed the Chicago heap of burning tires on the way home. Smelly train.

Also, Nicole found this kid on MySpace and I'm totally going to request friendship.






* That's a lie. Here are two exchanges I had with this dude:
Him: "So why do you want to go to Ole Miss?"
Me: "Well, I want to study Southern lit, and Oxford is the hometown of Faulkner and John Grisham pumps a lot of money into the school..."
Him: "Hmm, Faulkner. I tried reading The Sound and the Fury and I just couldn't get into it. I mean, it wasn't beyond my mental capabilities, but I just couldn't dig it."

Him: "Hey, you were an English major - do you have a book recommendation?"
Me: "Uh, I'm reading One Hundred Years of Solitude right now, it's pretty good..."
Him: "I've heard of that. I'm a big fan of... Have you heard of the band Tool? They have this list of books on their website and that's on it. I thought about reading it once."